There is always a choice...

Today is our last full day here on Midway Atoll and after a few days of no sun, it decided to make an appearance. Tomorrow is going to be a very hard day. I have fallen so in love with these albatross and they trust us more than I have ever seen another wild animal trust a human being. The more that I think about that the more absurd that becomes. They have no reason to trust us like that. We are killing so many of them.

It really only hit me two days ago that I am here on Midway Atoll. It was then that I realized my dream had actually come true, but it proved my worst nightmare to be true as well... plastic pollution is getting way out of hand. As I was riding my bike beside a big field of birds and I thought about all the plastic products I've used in my life time.

 I couldn't possibly think of them all because plastic has become second nature to society. I thought about the shampoo I've used..

Photo: Kris Krug

 the numerous toothbrushes I've gone through..

or water bottles I've drank from.

That's when it really hit me, all of my plastic could be inside one of these birds. I imagined my toothbrush poking and stretching a baby albatross's stomach and I was brought to tears. I am responsible for an innocent being's suffering. Just because I needed that plastic spoon to stir my coffee a year ago, something suffered for it's whole life. This was an absolutely heartbreaking thought.

The North Pacific Gyre is impossible to clean out, but we can make a difference by choosing not to contribute to this problem anymore. There is always a choice. Are you responsible enough to make the right one?

-Emily